Sunday, 18 December 2011

2012 London Olympics - the enemy of democracy

THE 2012 London Olympics are the enemy of democracy and anarchists must protest against them, despite draconian threats from the state.

That's the forceful message from a new post on the Rebel Cleaners blog.

It says: "While company directors, corrupt politicians and bankers are comfortably
seated together to supervise and reap profits from the labour of others
(how capitalist!) we'll still be on the streets showing that we're
strong, we're angry and that these bastards are losing their control
over us.

"Now, there is something that our rulers absolutely do not want
broadcasting around the world. There'll be no shortage of cameras about,
as pretty much every news agency in the world will be operating here in
Britain this summer.

"It's not hard to see why the rich are so worried. Protests, direct
action, strikes and the like are set to undo every bit of material gain
they're hoping to raid from the Olympic Games.

"How can the rich push the
sponsors if the TV cameras are showing pictures of people angry at
those exact same sorts of mega-corporations?

"How can the rich get their
billionaire buddies to travel to Britain to spend their cash in London's
fancy hotels and restaurants, if these places are under threat of being
attacked by black bloc tactics?

"How can the British government continue
to dictate to Greece and other countries through the IMF and EU about
their economic policies when the people riot against British economic
policy?

"How can foreign policy be enforced when TV screens from Hong
Kong to Houston are showing pictures of people critical to these
policies?

The blog lists various measures being taken by the British state to ensure that the corporate, not people's, voices are heard this
summer:

Protests near to the Olympic sites are to be banned. We've already
seen bans on protests enforced in parts of London, under the façade of
anti-fascism. It's also looking like the legislation is being expanded
to include new powers to the police to attack protesters wherever they may be, with encampments such as that at St Paul's or Parliament Square targeted in particular..

13,500 soldiers to be deployed to "maintain order",
including drones, the Royal navy's biggest aircraft carrier, a dozen
Eurofighter Typhoons and several attack helicopters mounting tank
killing missiles. Oh and a cute jingoistic Nuremberg Rally style
military parade too.

Total control of the media.
Reporters or networks that report anything that does not fit into the
corporate plan, are threatened with being shut down and having their
license (yes, license) to write, or broadcast, what's going on, revoked.

The push to further militarise the police, by giving them new powers
to disperse protest quicker and new weapons such as tasers, water cannons, rubber bullets and chemical warfare agents.

An overwhelming majority of people are happy to be living in this industrial capitalist world. We know this because we are told it constantly.
How could we foresee a near future in which the hypnotic spell is broken, the scales fall from a billion eyes and those who say 'Enough!' are revealed, all of a sudden, to be a gale force wind of revolt, a tidal wave of insurgent delight sweeping all before it, a minority so vast it will change everything?